[Balmung] /Shocked - Arrival of a Tiny Hero!?

[Gegenji]

Haldo!

 

Sorry about the overly dramatic thread name, I figured I'd try to start things off on Balmung with a bang!

 

I stumbled across these forums while browsing through some of the Lore threads in the FFXIV forums and, as I am wont to do, got super psyched up at the idea of RP in an MMO and readily hopped onto the bandwagon. While I had a character on another server I would've loved to have the RP experience with (might bring him over later), I instead decided to create that character's little brother and "start fresh" over on Balmung.

 

My background is... interesting, I suppose. I've played many an MMO (Everquest, FFXI, WoW, and now FFXIV), with my WoW period being one of endgame raiding and the hassles of being an officer in a raiding guild. I got pretty burned out from all that, but eventually got swayed into trying FFXIV through the Free Trial system. I made a promise to myself that I'd stick purely to playing casually and try not to turn the game into a "job" that I felt WoW had turned into. Of course, I'm currently halfway through collecting the Alexandrite for my Sphere Scroll over on my "main," so my success on that is questionable.

 

I'm not unfamiliar with role-play, but all of my experience with it has been of the tabletop and chatroom formats (often involving the rolling of many multifaceted dice!) plus a little bit of shared storytelling over forums. However, I do have a nasty habit of building a personality and story around my characters in my head when I play my vidya gaemz, so I'm hoping that helps some. Still, I must admit I'm both excited and a little lost. :blush:

 

I think I spent most of my first evening on Balmung wandering my little Lala around the Quicksand, listening in on various RPs before toddling off to get some levels and (more importantly) some outfits. And I have to say, all the extra interaction between players simultaneously makes the place seem so much more alive... and gives a bit of a "what have I got myself into" vibe that is a little daunting.

 

I'm eager to try, though, so please treat little Chachanji Gegenji with kindness if you come across him in your travels!

 

 

... Also, yes, being the massive nerd I am, I already have a bit of story and background all set to go for little Chacha (having used his older brother as a springboard), and am willing to blab a bit more if people are interested in that sort of thing. :blush:

[Warren Castille]

Welcome aboard! The Quicksand can certainly be a busy place, and if you're not careful you're liable to see your posts get drawn down into the mix and vanish! I'm sure there's a corollary here, but it'd take a man wittier than I do point it out.

 

Have you see the wiki? If you've already got an idea of a character, we've got a fairly large collective of de-facto trading cards for the populace here. Helps to keep track of who's who and what's where and when's why.

[Gegenji]

I think I spent most of my time in the Quicksand just toddling around and doing motion emotes every now and again to avoid interrupting anything. Poor little Chacha wants to be a helper but he was rather in over his head! :lol:

 

As for the wiki, I'll take a look at it! Having some more knowledge might help take an edge off the whole "out of my depth" feeling I was getting (and echoing in Chacha's motions). And, while I haven't made a wiki page before, it might be fun to get all the thoughts I have for him down on "paper," as it were.

[Jancis]

My background is... interesting, I suppose. I've played many an MMO (Everquest, FFXI, WoW, and now FFXIV), with my WoW period being one of endgame raiding and the hassles of being an officer in a raiding guild. I got pretty burned out from all that, but eventually got swayed into trying FFXIV through the Free Trial system. I made a promise to myself that I'd stick purely to playing casually and try not to turn the game into a "job" that I felt WoW had turned into. Of course, I'm currently halfway through collecting the Alexandrite for my Sphere Scroll over on my "main," so my success on that is questionable.

 

 

This WoW description sounds a lot like my own experience.

 

Granted my raiding was on a role play server. Lalalalala

 

I give you a thumbs up for only being halfway done considering how long Novus has been out! Sounds more like productive free time filler!

 

I definitely use the wiki as a checklist for all the things I can't remember on my own. There are templates to take that make you ask questions and if you look at the Races, you'll see a list of people under those catagories so if you need some lala-inspiration, lala-look at some of them in particular.

 

Also, please get use to hugs if your lala-man is extra lala-cute.

 

Welcome aboard!

[Kage]

Lalafell!

 

Welcome and I hope to meet Chachanji with my own lalafell.

 

Just ignore Kage's weaboo name.

 

@_@

 

I applaud you doing the Zodiac. I saw how Novus was turning into a gil sink and just went "nope!"

Sometimes I wish I had so I had a nicer weapon to kill T9 with when I finally do @_@

[Gegenji]

I give you a thumbs up for only being halfway done considering how long Novus has been out! Sounds more like productive free time filler!

I applaud you doing the Zodiac. I saw how Novus was turning into a gil sink and just went "nope!"

Sometimes I wish I had so I had a nicer weapon to kill T9 with when I finally do @_@

That's the excuse I'm using on myself, Jancis.

 

And you're not kidding about the gil sink, Kage. I'm on Savage Aim IIIs and Savage Might IVs for the melds. I only have a mil and a half gil to my name! I can't afford all these! :dazed:

 

(No, gil farmers, that's not an excuse to keep pestering me with your tells, go away.)

 

Thanks for your warm welcomes, by the by! I think I got my little wiki all written up, so please feel free to look it over and let me know if there's any major snafus that need fixin' (either mechanically or lore...ly). I'll be adding a picture once I'm actually home and have access to my screenies.

[Warren Castille]

That's the excuse I'm using on myself, Jancis.

 

And you're not kidding about the gil sink, Kage. I'm on Savage Aim IIIs and Savage Might IVs for the melds. I only have a mil and a half gil to my name! I can't afford all these! :dazed:

 

(No, gil farmers, that's not an excuse to keep pestering me with your tells, go away.)

 

Thanks for your warm welcomes, by the by! I think I got my little wiki all written up, so please feel free to look it over and let me know if there's any major snafus that need fixin' (either mechanically or lore...ly). I'll be adding a picture once I'm actually home and have access to my screenies.

 

Your link is broken as of five seconds ago but the page is fine if you navigate to the wiki itself. Looks good!

 

Regarding your Novus troubles: If you do a "budget" Novus you can get away with slowly redoing the scroll during the Nexus stage. Materia have leaped drastically since the trials first came out and I don't relish anyone trying to do them now, especially with the influx of Ninja trying to grind weapons out, too. Don't feel stuck if you get pushed into Tier IVs and can't make the bank for them. Making an acc/crit/det weapon isn't a terrible idea, since you can always make it X-stat/Y-stat with some Alexandrite.

 

Post 1337. I'm a doooooork.

[Gegenji]

Regarding your Novus troubles: If you do a "budget" Novus you can get away with slowly redoing the scroll during the Nexus stage. Materia have leaped drastically since the trials first came out and I don't relish anyone trying to do them now, especially with the influx of Ninja trying to grind weapons out, too. Don't feel stuck if you get pushed into Tier IVs and can't make the bank for them. Making an acc/crit/det weapon isn't a terrible idea, since you can always make it X-stat/Y-stat with some Alexandrite.

 

Post 1337. I'm a doooooork.

I remember someone else on my "main" server mentioning that, so that might be what I do. Throw in some accuracy or piety and then... have fun gathering "glow." :frustrated:

 

On more Balmung-ish matters, I (hopefully) have everything set to try some of that thar MMO RPing tonight once I get home from work (workin' that 9 ta 5). I'm GMT-5, so hopefully I'll come across someone willing to help ease me into it.

 

That or I'll keep leveling the little dude for some more costume options (and ultimately get to glamourin'), and just poke my head into the Quicksand every now and again. Maybe get some more screenshots taken so I can go embarrass myself on the screenshots thread, which has soundly caught my interest. And forced me to suppress laughter at work thanks to all the creep shots.

 

I'm a sucker for creep shots. I don't know why.

 

1337ness obtained, huh? Next goal marker: Lucky 7s for constant 7777 hits while posting.

[Roen]

I think I spent most of my first evening on Balmung wandering my little Lala around the Quicksand, listening in on various RPs before toddling off to get some levels and (more importantly) some outfits.

 

I like you already.

 

Welcome to Balmung!

[Aya]

I think I spent most of my first evening on Balmung wandering my little Lala around the Quicksand, listening in on various RPs before toddling off to get some levels and (more importantly) some outfits. And I have to say, all the extra interaction between players simultaneously makes the place seem so much more alive... and gives a bit of a "what have I got myself into" vibe that is a little daunting.

I'm always so happy when people enjoy the Quick Sand, even if I'm not able to spend as much time there as I want to!

[Gegenji]

I think I spent most of my first evening on Balmung wandering my little Lala around the Quicksand, listening in on various RPs before toddling off to get some levels and (more importantly) some outfits.

 

I like you already.

 

Welcome to Balmung!

Haha, thanks! Even on my "main" server, I've been spending way too much time messing with glamours. I recently decided that I liked the look of the Poetic Healer's gloves and boots enough to dump some money on a dye-able Scholar's "war jacket." Dyed it white and now I'm just trying to get the poetics to buy the other pieces. :lol:

 

I actually think the lack of glamours is what's bothering me most on my new little guy on Balmung. Been working around it by keeping the gear as straight up separate sets from my actual combat gear. It's a lot of flitting around from set to set, but it definitely adds to the immersion, I think.

[Steel Wolf]

Read your forum title in the voice of Lina Inverse, because it came off like an anime episode title.

 

Immediately <3 you.

 

Welcome to Balmung.  I'm Steel Wolf, and I am MUCH taller than you, but you get no fewer Roehugs from me because you lot are totes huggable and easy to carry in my travel pack.

 

If you see me trundling about, feel free to say hello, or just say hello sight unseen regardless.  I'd love to make more/new contacts as a semi-recent returnee to the game myself (veeeeeeery slowly leveling Rawrior. So casual. Very slow. Much leve).

[Warren Castille]

I actually think the lack of glamours is what's bothering me most on my new little guy on Balmung. Been working around it by keeping the gear as straight up separate sets from my actual combat gear. It's a lot of flitting around from set to set, but it definitely adds to the immersion, I think.

 

Full disclosure: I've never used a glamour in this game. I like being able to differentiate IC and OOC with gearsets!

[Aya]

I actually think the lack of glamours is what's bothering me most on my new little guy on Balmung. Been working around it by keeping the gear as straight up separate sets from my actual combat gear. It's a lot of flitting around from set to set, but it definitely adds to the immersion, I think.

 

Full disclosure: I've never used a glamour in this game. I like being able to differentiate IC and OOC with gearsets!

♪If I were a boy even just for a day

I'd roll out of bed in the morning

And throw on what I wanted and go♪

[Gegenji]

Full disclosure: I've never used a glamour in this game. I like being able to differentiate IC and OOC with gearsets!

But... but... I hafta be stylish when I'm tanking the dungeons! :cry:

 

... :lol:

 

And good eye, Steel! That was totally what I was going for - Slayers reference and all. Man I haven't seen that show in a while. Gonna end up hunting it down online and marathoning it because of that, I'm sure. Ray Wiiiing~

[Gegenji]

Delayed double-post!

 

So I've been having wee Chacha dork around both in game and on the forums for a little bit now. Having fun and makin' frands, but something has popped up that's been bothering me, and it actually got voiced in-game kinda last night during a spontaneous live RP.

 

I currently have Chachanji set at 19 years of age, but I play him as quite childish and naive and all those delightfully goofy trademarks of youth. I explain some of it due to the fact that he was the youngest of his siblings, relatively spoiled beyond his training at the forge, and quite the daydreamer. Yet, I always find myself thinking that it still sorta meshes poorly with his set age.

 

When one of the folks I RP'd with OOC'ly asked his age, it all kinda came to a head in my mind. I pushed it aside to focus on the RP at hand, but I've been wondering ever since. Should I age Chacha down, so as to be more fitting his childish nature?

 

And if I do, how far do I go? I'm not trying to go for the whole "child prodigy" angle - far from it, in fact - and I still want him to be of an age where it's reasonable that he'd be able to do what he has in his background: learn his family's trade to a decent extent and, more importantly, leave his family in Doma and actually make the journey from there to Ul'dah on his own.

 

I didn't think the concern was enough to warrant a whole new thread about age and its effects in Eorzea (though that might still be a fun line of discussion, lore-wise), so I figured I'd just ask here. Should I age Chacha down and, if so, by how much? I'm thinking from 19 to 16, maybe? 15?

[Warren Castille]

Slightly easy fix for that: Have him lie about his age. Kids who want to be taken seriously will definitely pretend they're older, and you don't have to go with a prodigy angle if you're already coming from a line of high-quality smiths. Learning how to do something from a pro is going to give you insight and technique that you won't get otherwise. I imagine growing up in a celebrity chef's kitchen produces a better chef than someone who attends a community cooking class, you know?

 

He could be a believable sixteen year old, lying about being nineteen. Working an anvil would give him more musculature than someone his age would "normally" have to help lend credence to his sneakiness.

[Gegenji]

Slightly easy fix for that: Have him lie about his age. Kids who want to be taken seriously will definitely pretend they're older, and you don't have to go with a prodigy angle if you're already coming from a line of high-quality smiths.

 

Whoa, I never even thought about the "lying about your age to seem more adult" angle. While on the one hand, I see Chacha as one that tries to be a good boy and not lie when he can haelp it... I can also see him pouting and going "I'M TOTALLY 19, YOU GUYS." Especially if he's been turned away many times before from doing things he wants - like helping people or learning how to be a hero - due to his age. It's a surprisingly fitting solution. :surprise: